The invention pertains to automated document management systems, and to methods of utilizing such systems.
Modern computing methods enable documents to be produced rapidly and profusely. Such methods also enable several versions of a document to be stored in a database, and numerous users to work on the stored document versions. In many applications, it is desirable to track which user was responsible for the last update of a particular version of a document. It would be desirable to develop automated systems to enable such tracking.
Among the modern devices which have enabled the proliferation of documents is the copy machine. Many offices allow their workers relatively unrestricted access to copy machines, as it is becoming increasingly necessary for persons to make copies of documents to enhance their productivity, and/or to maintain records of transactions occurring as part of their employment. Frequently, the copier is linked with an entry code system, and each employee is provided with a unique identification recognized by the entry code system. The employees are required to input the unique identification before making copies, which enables a company to at least monitor the number of copies generated by each employee. In more advanced systems, the employees also input an identification of the project they are working on to enable a company to track costs associated with particular projects.
A difficulty of having relatively free employee access to copy machines can be in preventing copying of sensitive documents. Sensitive documents can include, for example, trade secret information, employee payroll information, or company checks. Generally, a company will have a few persons authorized to make copies of some or all of the sensitive documents, and the remainder of the employees are not so authorized. A common method for avoiding the copying of sensitive documents by unauthorized employees is to limit access to the documents. However, circumstances occur wherein employees who are not authorized to copy particular sensitive documents nonetheless have access to the documents. It would therefore be desirable to develop new methods of protecting sensitive documents from being copied by unauthorized persons.
In one aspect, the invention encompasses a method of document management. A document is printed with a printing device configured to automatically label the document with a machine-readable code. The machine-readable code contains information, and the printing device is in data communication with a database so that the information contained in the machine-readable code on the document is also recorded in the database. The document is scanned with a scanning machine configured to extract at least some of the information from the machine-readable code. Subsequently, some of the information extracted from the machine-readable code by the scanning machine is compared with information in the database to track the document.
In another aspect, the invention encompasses a document management system. Such system comprises a printing device configured to print text on documents as well as to automatically print machine-readable code on the documents. The system further comprises a database in data communication with the printing device, and which records the information printed in machine-readable code on the documents. Additionally, the system comprises a scanning machine configured to scan documents and extract at least some information from the machine-readable code, and a processor configured to compare information extracted by the scanning machine with information in the database.